Wednesday, November 09, 2011

David Wright being HOPEFUL the Mets sign Jose Reyes

All the rumors on a destination for free agent shortstop Jose Reyes, Mets third baseman David Wright Tuesday evening expressed sentiment that he hopes his left-side-of-the-infield partner remains in New York.

"I know what I hope he's going to do," Wright said (MLB.com). "I don't know what he's going to do, but I know what I want him to do, and that's to be to my left next year. I've shot him a couple of texts here and there, we've kind of exchanged some messages, not really anything about baseball. I guess that's the eternal optimist side of me -- that he'll be to my left at Spring Training. You never really know. Hopefully the organization values Jose the way that maybe I do, and hopefully Jose can kind of reciprocate that, and hopefully they can work something out."

"Every day it's kind of something new, so you never know what is real and what is not," Wright continued (MLB.com). "It's probably too early to start judging which way we're going to go, which way Jose is going to go. I try not to pay too much attention to it at this moment. But with that being said, you see the kind of interest Jose is getting. You knew he was going to get it, but it finally kind of hits home. When you hear the reports of him speaking to different teams, you know that it's a possibility, that it could be real that he's not here."

The reports Wright may be referencing could include the one we passed along Tuesday morning, which was that Reyes is being heavily courted by the Marlins while the Brewers and Tigers are also in the mix.

Also, Wednesday morning Andy Martino of the New York Daily News reported that he's heard the Marlins might be offering a shorter-term deal with a higher annual salary than other teams. If Reyes is confident he can stay healthy and play well, this is a better option because then he'd be a free agent again while still young enough to hit another big payday. Of course, that's the issue. If he can't stay healthy, he's not going to be in this position ever again. So it's a gamble.

Reyes, 28, is a four-time All-Star. He won the NL batting title in 2011 (.337) while leading the majors with 16 triples and adding a .384 on-base percentage, 39 steals and 101 runs. He averaged 158 games played per season in 2005-08, but has since not played more than 133 in a season due mostly to leg injuries.